Opinion: John Doe ruling alters campaign terrain

11:17 PM,
May 22, 2014

Written by

Bill Leuders

There seemed to be no doubt about it: The conduct that state Senate President Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, was recently caught on tape discussing - creating an outside group to attack his Democratic opponent - is against the law.

The conservative group that secretly recorded this conversation said so. News outlets across the state said so. Even Ellis, who partly because of this incident decided not to seek re-election, said so.

"Shortly after the video was recorded, I was informed that the described scenario would be illegal, and the idea went no further," Ellis said in a statement. ...